


12 days of Rhackmas

by p0pcandy



Category: Borderlands
Genre: A bunch of one-shots based on Christmas prompts, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, Neighbors, all different - Freeform, also because potty mouths, more AUs, only put it on teen because of references to stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-06 15:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8759350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p0pcandy/pseuds/p0pcandy
Summary: Enjoy a bit of the holiday season with all the different prompts your "true love" [Me] has for you! It's 12 days of Christmas rhack! [Although almost none of these prompts actually go along with the song]It's the holiday season after all, and why not let yourself indulge in some fluff for once?





	1. On the 1st day of Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know I could have done way better with that description... Anyway! I know a _lot_ of people had been doing this, and I would hate to say I jumped on the bandwagon, but I really wanted to do something with this so... I'll be including the tags in the chapters more than I will the actual thing because I don't want anyone getting confused on stuff like which au is which. So I'll do that in the notes.  
>  Happy reading!!!
> 
> For this one, the Au is based on this: _"My date left me here alone and I decided to not waste a perfect day to go ice skating and got on the ice, one problem- I was much worse than I thought,"_  
>  Chapter Tags: Jack is going to be a good dad, Rhys is clumsy  
> I have nothing else...It's fluff, have fun kiddos.

Rhys checked his phone again, maybe for the fourth time that evening. Here's the thing, he was supposed to be on a cute date with someone he had been talking to over a dating app, and the only reason he agreed to it is because Yvette and Sasha practically forced him to make a profile. After a month of nothing but endless dick pics (most of which were horribly disgusting and he hadn't asked for) he found someone that didn't automatically ask for a nude, being happy with that he decided to ask about going on a date, and the guy said yes.

So, it being winter Rhys asked about an ice skating date. It had to be good for a first date... Right?

Well, apparently not because now he was stuck outside in the cold snow watching people skate around and glancing at is phone as twenty minutes passed by, then thirty, then an hour. 

Rhys pulled his scarf over his nose and glared down at the screen, he never really had gotten stood up before, he had to say it sucked. This date was a waste of time and money.

His eyes roamed the place until they landed on the ice again, if he was going to be here he might as well put the money to use right? He walked off to get his skates--which was always a hassle--and put them on as he watched a few families go by, one that spun by was a man holding a girl--obviously his daughter--and twirling with her. Rhys smiled as he watched them pass by and finished buckling his skates before attempting to stand up. 

As soon as he was standing he became rather wobbly, and seeing how embarrassing he looked right now, he was rather glad his “date” was a no-show. He also probably should have guessed it would be like this for his first time in skates. 

Rhys carefully walked onto the ice, holding his hands out in front of him, then beside him to balance himself, but it didn't help because as soon as he hit the ice he fell flat on his rear. With a startled squeak he scrambled to get back up, only to fall again. It had to have taken him at least ten tries to get back up on his feet, and most people kept going past him, ignoring his obvious struggle. Once up he probably went a few steps before losing his balance again, but this time instead of the hard, cold,  _ unforgiving _ ice he landed on something soft...ish. 

“Oh my god I am so sorry!” Rhys screamed almost immediately trying his best to get off the person he had fallen onto. The person grunted in response and started to rub the back of their head.

“Damn you're heavier than I thought,” Rhys studied the man before pouting.

“Excuse me, what is that supposed to mean?” the man chuckled in response and got to his feet flawlessly, which was stunning to Rhys, but probably mediocre to half the people on the ice. 

“This your first time skating?”

“I would say so, yeah,” Rhys tried to get up, but just like a newborn colt he fell to the ground again. 

“Need help?” Without another word the man helped Rhys up and patted his shoulder, “Have any friends?”

“Not here,” Rhys replied, trying to move forward and tripping again as the man caught him.

“Thank god, I wouldn't want my friends to see me like this either,”

“ _ Hey _ ,” 

“It's the truth, imagine how hard they would be laughing at you right now,”  _ Ok, yeah they would _ . 

“Still,” Rhys mumbled as the man gave a smile to him.

“You know, not to be rude, but you skate worse than my five year old daughter,” Rhys shot a glare at the man, but softened as he realized this was the guy he saw twirling before with his daughter. He was rather handsome up close, two different colored eyes, one blue and one green, his hair was brown with a stripe of gray waving through the left side.

“I'm... Pretty bad at skating,”

“You can say that again kiddo,” the man laughed but showed a slight hint of sympathy as he led Rhys slightly out of the way of other skaters. “It's just walking, pretty much, you'll get the hang of it soon enough,”

“Well that's easy for you to say, you were amazing,”

“Ah, yeah, I know. But everyone has a first time for everything, and unless you're some weird freak, you probably sucked at it the first time too,” 

“W-Wow,”

“Yeah, it's something I picked up from being a father, my name is Jack by the way,” Jack checked his nails and grinned at Rhys.

“R-Rhys, my name is Rhys,”

“Wheew, bet that's a pain in the ass at Starbucks,” a small laugh left Rhys and he shook his head.

“Yeah, a real pain in the ass,” with a small glance around the iced-over lake, he let his eyes land back on Jack, “Not as much as this ice is though,” 

“Good one,” Jack nudged Rhys, who was unprepared for it and fell with a loud screech, “Woops, you alright kiddo?” Swiftly the older man crouched down and held out his hand to Rhys. Jack had a scar that Rhys had just now noticed, it ran from over his face in a clear upside down V. With a quick snap of Jack's fingers Rhys broke out of the small trance and grabbed his hand, and let the other man pull him up. 

“You think you'll be ok by yourself?” Jack asked, obviously knowing Rhys wouldn't, “I have to make sure my daughter is alright,”

“Of course,” Rhys sputtered out, waving Jack away, “Easy as walking,” 

“Alright, see you around then,” Jack waved and moved his way to where a little girl with black hair was spinning in a circle. The girl, like Rhys kept doing, fell after the third spin and immediately Jack picked her up, a little above his head. 

Rhys smiled at the scene, before averting his eyes when they almost met with Jack's. A deep sigh left him and he tried to move a little bit away from the side of the ice and in a straight line, although he didn't make it that far before falling forward. 

With a grunt he pushed himself up just in time to see a little body in front of him, “Oh! I'm sorry I-”

“Are you ok Mister?” The little girl asked, trying to crouch down but falling down in the process, which got a small laugh out of Rhys.

“Yeah, I'm used to it by now,” 

“Maybe my dad can help you!” Without warning the girl cupped her hands over her mouth, “DAAAAD,” Rhys sat up and looked the girl over, oh... That was...

“What?!” ...Jack's daughter... Jack was holding hot cocoa in his hand on the snowy ground around the small lake. 

“Can you help this guy?!” She called back and moved to show Rhys who just waved pathetically. He swear he heard Jack laugh as he gulped down the rest of it and threw the cup in the trash before skating over.

“Told you I would see you again,”

“You said around, but yeah,” Rhys laughed and looked at the small child as her father helped her up first.

“Well, I was teaching Angel here how to skate, but since you're both here and by her request, do you want me to teach you?” The younger man blushed and looked to the ground.

“Yeah, uh... Thanks, if its not too much,” 

“Nonsense, come on,” Jack lifted Rhys up again and brushed off his shoulders, “There you go. Angel do you wanna lead?” The girl squealed and nodded as she started to skate off, “Well, there's our cue,” Jack let Rhys hold onto him for support as they slowly followed after Angel, and after a few times the girl was skating fine by herself, getting encouragement from Jack, and even Rhys. 

Although... Rhys was still very clumsy on the ice.

“Alright, you're doing fine,” Jack felt Rhys suddenly let go and he stopped before turning to Rhys who was rubbing his back, “spoke too soon I see,” Rhys just frowned up at the man and stuck his tongue out at him. 

“It's not my fault the ice is hard to skate on,”

“It really isn't,” Jack mumbled before picking Rhys back up, “here, how about I lead you through it,”

“That's what you've been doing,” 

“No, I was being support, here just give me your damn hand,” Rhys grabbed onto Jack's hand and before he could get out an “oh god help!” He was pulled along the ice with Jack, twirling and going faster than the grandma pace he had earlier. 

Within what had to be a half hour of Jack dragging Rhys along the ice, the younger man started to laugh wildly, this was way better than what he had in mind for that other date. Jack spun Rhys around again, kicking some snow and ice off as he spun. The younger man than was dipped, flinging his head back with a laugh, keeping a gaze on Jack seeing the older man smile at him.

“I'd say you should be able to skate on your own now,” Jack said while bringing Rhys back up and holding him at least an arm's distance, “You think you can do it?”

“I... Don't know, I mean... I rather skate with you, that was fun,”

“I'd love to do that again, but Angel is up past her bedtime,”

“Right,” Rhys whispered, moving slightly back from Jack as his hands fell to his side and he started to look through his pockets before pulling out his phone.

“Here, enter your number, we'll go for coffee one day, or maybe back here,” Jack handed Rhys his phone and nodded towards the last kid, his daughter, picking up snow and throwing it on the ice, “She seems to like you, and if she likes you I like you,”

“What?” Rhys squeaked, looking up from the phone and earning a chuckle from Jack.

“Today was great Rhys, thanks,” Rhys handed back the phone and watched as Jack gave a small wave and picked up his daughter before walking off to where the cars were. A small blush came to Rhys’ face as he left out a bubbly laugh pulling his scarf over his nose. 

It was a great day.

Although he was still going to complain about the failure of a date to his friends. 


	2. On the 2nd day of Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For this one, the Au is based on this: "I smelt something burning and it happened to be your cooking, and out of the 'generousness' of my heart, I decided to help you,"  
> Chapter Tags: They're neighbors in this one, Rhys is a bad cook, Jack is a stress baker, but also in-tune with the holiday spirit  
> idk what other tags to add, but enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are awesome, just thought you should know.

Jack moved across his kitchen, reaching for the sugar in his top cabinet, after all, what better season to start stress baking than around Christmas time? He opened up the cabinet, looking inside before feeling around. That’s weird, where was his bag of sugar? The man pushed himself up to look deeper inside the cabinet. No way- he was out?! Slamming his hands on the table, making powder fly up into the air he looked to the trash can behind him, and what do you know, there was the missing sugar bag, presumably empty. Jack wasn’t wasteful after all. He sighed and brushed off his hands on his apron, flour that was stuck to his hands flying off of them and mostly onto the floor. While humming he turned off the stove, not wanting anything to burn or catch fire while he was gone, and even if he suspected he wouldn’t be gone long it was better safe then sorry. He walked out of his apartment and continued to brush himself off until he smelt something from the apartment next to his- wait no, correction, two apartments next to his.

Jack didn’t pride himself on being nosey, but he did pride himself on fixing other’s problems, and by the smell, this was a problem. Jack walked down until the smell was strong enough that he knew it was the apartment he was looking for. The man rasped his fist against the door and stepped back, taking in the small reef on the door.

“O-One second!” Someone called from inside followed by coughing. Soon the door opened and a lanky man with auburn hair and two mismatched eyes, one blue one brown, stood before Jack, “O-Oh, uhm... Hello,” the man said, rubbing his hair back with a soft laugh.

“Hey, sorry I uh... Was looking to borrow some sugar,” Jack said, moving himself a little closer. It smelt like a war zone in there, like this man had just cooked up some charcoal stones that he mistaken for food, “Had a fight with the holiday dinner?” Jack asked, obviously making the man before him a little nervous and uncomfortable.

“Oh, sorry, I knew the smell was kind of strong- I just keep burning cookies, I was trying to make some for my friends and-”

“Not looking for a life story here kiddo, but hey, what do you know? I was going to make some more cookies, I can help you, I mean I should before you burn this place to the ground,” the man laughed awkwardly but didn’t budge.

“N-No it’s fine, I’m sorry, I’ll go get you some sugar,” The man left the door and Jack invited himself in, closing it behind him. With a whistle Jack looked around the man’s apartment, it was littered with tinsel and a dumpy looking tree was stuffed in the corner of the living room, some of the ornaments hanging from it were way too heavy for the flimsy branches to handle. The man rounded the corner from the kitchen and froze in pure shock.

“Oh, I-I see you let yourself in,” the man murmured while cautiously shuffling towards Jack.

“Don’t worry princess, I don’t bite,” Jack sounded amused as he turned the man around and lead him back into the kitchen, coughing a little from the smoke, “Jesus, are you sure you weren’t trying to make coal in here? What is this?” Jack opened the oven and waved his hand in front of his face as the smoke hit it, stinging his eyes, and Jack flung himself back covering his eyes.

“Are you ok?!” the man quickly squeaked and rushed to Jack’s side, “D-Do you need something?” Jack only coughed in response but shook his head.

“I was more than right, we have to get on this right away,” His voice got a little hoarse for a second so he cleared his throat and stepped back as he opened the oven, trying his best to avoid the smoke, “If you can’t make cookies, what can you make?” Jack asked, not meaning to sound sarcastic.

“I don’t really do cooking,”

“I can tell,” Jack took the burnt chunks of cookies out of the oven and quickly discarded them in the trash before setting the hot baking pan on the top of the stove, “So what type of cookies were you making anyway?” The man stepped aside from the kitchen counter to show the ginger and flour spilled on it. “Ah” was all Jack responded with, reaching over to grab the leftover ginger, “and how much do you need to make?”

“A couple dozen, but I don't understand why you're insisting on helping me,”

“Listen, I think you'll be thanking me when you aren't sued for food poisoning,”

“What?” The man looked shocked for a second before glaring at Jack, “I know my cooking's bad but it's not that bad,”

“Whoever said that lied to you,” the other man opened his mouth but closed it with a huff.

“Well if you're going to walk in here you should at least know my name,” Jack moved passed the man as he talked and looked at the ingredients and the scribbled on paper that could count as a recipe, “Its Rhys by the way,”

“Nice, now could you tell me where the mixing- ah never mind found it,” Jack took a mixing bowl and looked back to Rhys, “uh are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me... Actually,” Jack placed the bowl down and smirked at Rhys, “Just stand there and look pretty, I don't need you to mess anything up,”

“You do know you barged into my house right?”

“Yeah... Your point?”

“Oh no, just checking to make sure you know,” The older man raised an eyebrow, then closed his eyes and shook his head with a sigh.

“Just grab what I need kid, then I'll be out of your hair, just after I do us all a favor and don't cook,”

“Again this is _my_ house,”

“Yeah, _I know,_ where’s your forks?” Rhys pointed to the silverware drawer and sighed as he leaned back on the small wall separating the doorway and hallway from the kitchen. Jack almost seemed to be an expert on baking and was probably knocking the socks off of Rhys’ feet. With a quick check over he saw Rhys was just leaning there looking bored as all hell, “What crawled up your ass?” Jack remarked and the scowl on Rhys’ face got bigger.

“Oh, I'm _sorry_ am I supposed to like a stranger coming into my house?”

“Mmh....Mhmm,” Jack nodded and cracked an egg with one hand as he pointed to a brown sugar bag with his other, “get me that, and yeah you should if they're stopping you from being a cause of a devastating fire,” The younger man huffed and snatched the bag and handed it to Jack.

“Shouldn't I at least know your name?”

“Why?”

“Well you know, _mine_ ,” Rhys said annoyed.

“Jack,” The older man said with a shrug and started to stir the dough together, “You can call me ‘My Hero’ though,” Rhys scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“How about ‘Creepy Neighbor’ suits you more,”

“ _Ha. Ha.”_ Jack mumbled, setting the bowl down and wrapping some plastic wrap over it, “Alright, let that sit for an hour... What do you want to do?”

“Uh, how about you go home?” Rhys pointed to the door, but Jack just laughed in response.

“Nice one, how about TV? Whatcha got?” Jack put the bowl in the fridge and walked out of the kitchen followed by Rhys.

“You know, you already helped, you're done,”

“Far from it,” Jack sat himself down on the couch and turned on the TV. It took a while, but as soon as he noticed Rhys wasn't sitting he patted the couch, “Come on don't be shy cupcake,” the younger man plopped down on the couch with a huff and started to glare at the TV.

A movie started to play then, one of the Christmas spirit movies that, even though Christmas was big with Jack, made him roll his eyes every time. Around thirty minutes into it, Rhys spoke up.

“That makes no sense, like ‘oh the dog is magical now’ I never get these,”

“I hear you, like where did the dog play into the movie? Nothing against it but god,” a small laugh came from Rhys which caused Jack to give him a questioning look, “What?”

“You weren't paying attention were you?”

“It's a kids movie, of course, I wasn't,”

“Hey some kids movies are good,”

“Sure kiddo,” Jack turned his attention back to the TV. After the movie was done Jack sat there for a second then got up and stretched, “They should be done by now,”

“We can't eat them raw,”

“You're not very bright are you?”

“ _Hey,_ ” Rhys crossed his arms but followed Jack anyway as the older man started to set out pans and cover a piece of wax paper with flour before slapping down the dough.

“You have a rolling pin?” Jack asked, and like that Rhys placed on in his hand. As Jack rolled out the dough and started to cut them into gingerbread men, Rhys watched on in silence before getting a terrible idea and grabbing flour and flinging it in Jack's direction which made the older man stop in his tracks, “You made a _terrible_ mistake,” Jack said in a low tone before grabbing for the flour and jumping up to throw it at Rhys, making the young man whine.

“Awh man,”

“You deserved it,” Jack mumbled before seeing Rhys stick out his tongue, “What are you four?”

“Shut up, I'm not the one who barged into someone's home,” Jack rolled his eyes and picked up more flour, throwing it again at Rhys.

“At least I don't look like a snowman,” Jack mocked halfheartedly, which only made Rhys dive for the flour, but Jack blocked it and when Rhys dived into him they fell into a hall. It was mostly because Jack didn't want to fall on the cookies.  With a laugh Rhys took the flour bag and dumped some on Jack, earning a groan in return, “Asshole,” Jack looked up to Rhys but his eyes caught a slight red thing with two green leaves coming from it... Was that...

 _Oh_.

Jack smirked at Rhys and pointed up, and when Rhys noticed what Jack was pointing at he jumped off of Jack faster than lightning.

“Oh, uh...haha,” Rhys dusted himself off and looked back at the cookies, “Enough fooling around we should probably-”

“Its a tradition you know, we should honor it,”

“You do remember meeting me like only an hour ago right?”

“Like you've never kissed someone you just met,”

“I haven't! I have never done that!”

“Or maybe you just don't remember,”

“I never get that drunk,”

“Sure,” Jack shrugged and When Rhys started to walk off because he thought he was finished, Jack grabbed his shoulder and brought him back to him, placing a small kiss to Rhys’ cheek. The younger man went red and Jack laughed softly, “Tradition,”

“You are _really_ persistent Rhys muttered.


	3. On the 3rd Day of Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This Au is based off of: _"I heard you playing on the street and I started to sing along, sorry for stealing your thunder"_ not exactly a Christmas themed prompt buuuuuttt  
>  Notes for this chapter: Jack isn't a big bad CEO, Rhys owns a toy shop for reasons, Rhys is a amazing singer  
> Uhh yeah, did I mention I suck at tagging? xD I hope you guys like this one! Its a little short...

Rhys looked out of the shop window to the people running by, trying not to slip on the slippery sidewalk as they made their last rounds of late holiday shopping. He let his eyes travel back down to the toy box in his hands and placed it down. It had been very busy this morning while most kids were at school or daycare, and since it was getting around six he was starting to close down his toy shop.

Rhys gave a final check around the place before putting his coat on, it was a quiet start to an evening, the people outside were still rushing around of course, and no doubt it was probably starting to snow, Rhys closed his eyes to indulge in the silence when he heard a faint guitar start to play a similar Christmas melody. While grabbing his scarf and wrapping it around his neck and nose he started to hum to the melody, swaying a little with it as he moved along his shop putting the toys away and fixing up small displays.

The song had changed twice by the time Rhys was done, and he reached for his keys and stepped out the door to look for the person playing so lovely on the guitar. He scanned the crowd passing by before shaking his head and closing up the toy shop. His fingers were freezing by the time he was done locking up, it was cold and frigid outside, and even though he had gloves he hasn't thought it would get this bad tonight.

Rhys rubbed his hands together as he looked to the sky, feeling two freezing snowflakes fall on his face, with a soft laugh he let himself go back to his task and put the keys in the pocket of his jacket followed by his cold hands that he clenched into fists to try to squeeze some warmth back into him.

The strip his shop was on was fairly small, it was his toy store a beauty store and a tech store, the other side of the street was made up of two restaurants and a café. It wasn't much, but it was mostly a tight community between them, only the tech store belonged to a cooperation more than the other shops on the strip which were mostly owned by people like Rhys.

A small smile came to his face as he heard the music start up again, it was so merry for the quietness of a snowy night. His eyes drifted to a crowd surrounding something, but seeing as it was at the tech store it could be anything. Rhys kept his gaze for a while longer before deciding to make his trek back home. It wasn't far, but sometimes walking in the snow was terrible. He sucked in a breath and started to walk down the strip, humming along to the music that was growing louder until he started to sing the old Christmas carol that was being played on the guitar.

He didn't notice that people were staring at him while he sang, and he had even stopped walking to be surrounded by the music. It had only been when the song ended that he noticed people were staring, and now he could see what people were crowded around too.

A man was sitting outside the tech store, wearing a brown leather jacket and a beat up sweater that had the tech store's logo on it, he was obviously a worker, but in his hands, he held the guitar. The man smiled at Rhys before letting out a laugh, “You know I usually do this thing solo kiddo, but I don't mind doing a duet with you,” Rhys let the man's words sink in before letting out an embarrassed gasp.

“Oh god was I singing that loudly?” The man nodded in response and brushed his brown hair back with his hand. His eyes were mismatched like Rhys’ were, but instead, they were green and blue.

“Yes, but I got to admit,” the man stood, putting the guitar behind him to rest on what he was using as a seat, “you sing amazing,” the small crowd around the two agreed, making Rhys turn redder than a tomato.

“You think so?” Rhys said quietly, looking towards the ground to avoid eye contact.

“Like I said, we should do a duet, it'll really help... Are you up for it?” Rhys turned his head back to the man and tried to ignore the crowd.

“Of course, it's Christmas eve after all,” Rhys said with a shrug and the man flashed another smile.

“Great! Tell me if you know this one,” he went back for his guitar and started to play ‘Baby it's Cold Outside’ Rhys stepped forward and started to sing, getting lost again in the music, almost not being able to hear the man singing select parts with Rhys, as promised, a duet. After a few more songs and an overjoyed crowd, the man set down his guitar, noticing that the tech shop was starting to close up.

“That was fun,” he said, ripping a paper and whistling as he scribbled something down.

“You sing well as well, I think this is the most fun I had singing in front of a crowd,”

“You did seem a little scared,” the man turned to Rhys and grabbed his hand, putting the piece of paper in it and closing Rhys’ hand, “Until next time,” the man winked and grabbed his guitar, walking back into the shop.

As Rhys continued to walk home he finally took a look at the note, which was a number followed by “ _duet_?” With a laugh Rhys put the note in his pocket, the warm feeling in his chest protecting him from the icy snow on his walk home.


	4. On the 4th Day of Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This Au is based off of: _"I was throwing snowballs with my friends and accidentally hit you, how this turned into a snowball war is beyond me,"_  
>  Tags for this chapter: Jack is ruthless in snowball fights, Rhys has bad aim, Rhys also doesn't have his cybernetics,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This a lil' late sorry about that!! Although, that does mean you guys get a lot today!! Yey! Sorry about the delay again I fell ill on Friday and haven't had the energy to write until now... The next couple chapters will be posted later today/tonight! Thank you for reading!!

“We're pinned!” Sasha yelled, holding her “ammo” close and hiding behind the makeshift fort, “Rhys hand me more snow!” As the lanky man scurried to grab more snow from behind him he popped his head up just enough to be pelted with a snowball to the side of his head.

“Woo! I got Rhys!” Fiona yelled with a double fist pump, but was then hit by a snowball from none other than her own sister, “ _Hey_ ,”

You would expect that when work gives you a day off because they're “snowed in” as Hyperion put it, you would think four grown adults would be inside napping or watching TV, not playing outside in the snow like a bunch of kids... Then again, you've probably never met these four.

“How am I going to win against Sasha?!” Vaughn tried to whisper to his teammate, but his stress had him yelling it to her.

“You can't! So, raise your white flag now!” Sasha yelled to him, cupping her gloved hands around her face to make it louder.

“Alright! I give up!”

“That was quick,” Rhys murmured to Sasha who shrugged, “probably didn't want one of your ‘rock’ balls to hit him,”

“Listen that rock got in that snowball by pure accident,”

“ _Sure_ , we'll go with that,” Rhys put up his head to see Fiona arguing with Vaughn. She finally stopped and huffed, climbing over her small snow fort.

“I'm calling for a re-match and a team switch,”

“Whichever boy you chose you're still going to lose Fi,”

“Because they don't know how to play good,” Fiona put her hands on her hip, “Just switch will ya?” Once everything was in place they started to build up their forts.

“You better do well Rhys,”

“Hey, I'll _try_ that's all you should ask of me,” Rhys jumped behind the fort as Fiona did and with Sasha’s proclamation of “This is war!” The game started.

Rhys was hidden beneath the fort walls gathering as much snow as he could to supply ammo.

“Do something Rhys!”

“I am doing something! Where do you think your ammo is coming from?!”

“I meant throw a snowball!”

“Oh, and do that with what? One hand?” Rhys shot back to Fiona showing his amputated arm.

“Shut up and cover me!” Fiona handed him a snowball and with a sigh he sprung up to throw it at the other two, it was an amazing throw, but it hadn't hit either one of his targets, instead it went for someone who was walking down the street, with a gasp he shot back down and even Fiona hid.

“See! This is why I don't throw!”

“Well next time tell me sooner okay?!” Fiona poked her head back up just enough to see the man looking stunned before a furious expression crossed his face.

“I did tell you!” Rhys hissed at his friend and poked his head up just a little to see who he had actually hit.

None other than his boss... Check that- his _bosses’_ bosses’ boss. “Crap,” Rhys whined as the man whipped the snow off his face.

“Way to go, Rhys,” Fiona commented but was kicked in the foot by Rhys.

“ _Shut up_ ,”

“Alright, who threw the snowball,” the voice was leveled but it didn't stay that way for long, “Get your asses out here!” It didn't seem he knew he was dealing with adults yet... Though Rhys knew they were all done for. The CEO of Hyperion surely wouldn't want workers that acted like kids...

Rhys stood and wobbled out of his hiding place, despite the pleas from Fiona, “It was me, sir, I threw it...” Rhys rubbed his hair back as he stared at the ground, thinking to get a yell from the CEO, but instead he got a laugh.

“ _You_?” Another laugh, making Rhys turn red in embarrassment, “Y-You threw _that_? Pfft- Well that makes a _lot_ of sense, now doesn't it?” The CEO looked him up and down while shaking his head, “Aren't you a little too old to be playing out here like this?”

“I... Guess...” Rhys murmured, avoiding any eye contact.

“I mean, your forts are less than adequate, your aim is- _terrible_ , and the worst part is that those didn't even have rocks in them,”

“That's dangerous!’

“ _That's dangerous_ ,” the man mocked, “Step aside kiddo I'll show you how a real _man_ snowball fights,” the CEO spent no time taking a small rock and packing snow around it, then shaping it just right before bouncing it up and down in his hand, “Stay still cupcake this will only sting for a moment,” Ok, the CEO being happy was way out of the question, the malice in his words warned Rhys enough to dodge the snowball as it flew towards his face, but his bad dodging skills made him fall to the ground and get a mouth full of dirt and snow. As he spits it out he heard the CEO laugh again.

“Rhys, are you okay?!” Vaughn called from the other fort, making the man above Rhys stop his laughing.

“Finally, the others show their faces, nice friends you got here, all idiots if you ask me,” Rhys glared up at him and stood up.

“Don't talk about my friends like that!” _Bad move, but he'd do anything for his bro_.

“Oh? What are you going to do about it?”

“One on one! I'll fight you!”

“You're way too scrawny for-”

“With snow!”

“That makes way more sense,” the CEO shrugged, “Fine, whatever, I have nothing to do today anyway, I'll indulge in your kid game,” Rhys felt a tinge of regret if he was honest, and he got up looking to Vaughn who seemed worried. What he was doing was probably a really bad idea but...

“Rhys what are you thinking?” Vaughn called again from the fort.

“Obviously, he's not,” Rhys heard Sasha say to Vaughn, and then there was another laugh from the CEO.

“This friend group is great, I feel like the schoolyard bully again,” The CEO turned his gaze back to Rhys, “call me Jack, don't wear it out either,” _yeah even if Rhys was kinda mad he was still having a total fanboy meltdown_.

“R-Right, I’m uh R-“

“Rhys, I know,” Jack walked past him to wave at the others to get out of their forts, and once they did he jumped behind the one Sasha and Vaughn were once hiding behind, his three friends were now beside Rhys muttering to him, “Are you going to get behind something or are you just going to be an easy target? I mean I’ll take what I can get, but you’re the one that challenged me,”

“You got this Rhys,” Sasha said with a small smile and patted his back, Rhys nodded and started to go to the other fort when he heard her say to the others, “He’ doomed,” the other two agreed. _Thanks for having my back guys_. Rhys thought as he jumped behind the fort, nearly missing a snowball to the back.

“Hey!”

“Get on with it already slowpoke!” Rhys retaliated with a snowball of his own, but it overshot Jack, leaving the CEO a laughing mess. It sucked that he would have to do this on his own now, epically since his aim was bad and whatever team he was on he was always the ammo supplier and never the attacker.

He didn’t dare lift his head as the battle went on, driving the CEO to taunt him to even get a response.

“Come on kiddo! Where was the spirit I saw a little bit ago?” the snowballs had stopped being thrown by now, and a pile from the snowballs aimed at Rhys was starting to make a small pile of snow by the front of his fort. The others had gone to get hot drinks, saying that the cold was starting to get to them and they would come back for Rhys if it started to get dark. _He needed new friends_ … Rhys closed his eyes and almost broke the snowball clenched in his hands.

He had tried to hit Jack a couple times but he kept failing, so he might have given up a little… He popped his head up to see Jack not behind his fort but walking over now, a little irritated. Trying to be brave he threw the snowball he had in his hands, but it landed at Jack’s feet.

“Oh come on, if you’re going to challenge me at least _be_ a challenge,” Jack stepped over the small snow lump, which at this point is what most of Rhys’ attempts to throw the snowballs were, and about half-way to Rhys’ fort stopped, “Here, I’ll give you a free shot, not like you’ll hit it anyway,” In Rhys’ mind, this was a sort of invitation to close-up battle, which he was a bit better at, though he had no idea how that would work in a snowball fight. He quickly gathered up a bunch of snow and clumsily tried to jump over his fort and throw snow at Jack, which even though it was close quarters (kind of, Rhys wasn’t that close to him yet) it still never hit.

It wasn’t long before he tripped over a rock Jack had thrown in frustration and dropped all his snow as he started to fall, only to be caught rather terribly by the CEO who was probably trying to save Rhys from falling on a different rock Jack had thrown, and it sent them both tumbling downwards. Jack in a failed attempt to catch Rhys landed on the lankier man with a curse. The snow Rhys had, and had thrown in the air as he was tripping, fell around them, some of it landing on Jack’s head. Rhys was about to claim victory, but he felt his gaze lock with Jack’s when the snow started to fall from Jack’s messy locks on and around Rhys, making the younger man squirm from the cold snow falling onto him.

If it wasn’t for a voice coming from one of his friend’s, which sounded more concerned than anything, the two probably wouldn’t have noticed how long they stayed like that. Jack got off Rhys and started to brush off the snow with curses and looked to the other man’s friends that had come back with drinks, such as hot cocoa. He was about to leave, and not admit he lost because technically he _didn’t_ when he heard Rhys call to him and run back over to him to hand him another hot cocoa. Jack reluctantly took it and smiled at Rhys.


	5. On the 5th Day of Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This Au is based on: _"When I told you to distract my daughter, this isn't really what I had in mind- is the dog dressed as a reindeer?!"_  
>  Tags: Established relationship, Angel is 7-8ish, Jack has a dog for reasons, Dad!Rhys is really adorable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So by my logic "later today and tonight" is like... what? 2 days later? Feel free to slap me jfc  
> The others will be posted after Christmas I hope you can forgive me

Jack walked into the penthouse, expecting to be greeted with silence, but instead he was greeted with tons of laughter. It was a welcomed greeting however as he had asked his very own PA to babysit his daughter because he needed to go buy her anything and everything he could. The plus to his PA babysitting was that he was dating his PA and the man had a way with children in a way Jack never had. 

Also, presents, he had gone out to check on everything in Helios, all the shops it had- everything- and he had even checked some other stuff from other space stations and even from the earth itself. The good thing is he got it all done. 

He let his eyes trail from the tinsel haphazardly thrown on the ground to where his dog, or more Angel’s dog, ran out from the extra room he had put the tree in to greet Jack. Usually, this happened, but never once had he been greeted by a dog reindeer. The dog had on plush antlers and on his collar trailed behind him string with bells on it. The dog jumped up to greet Jack more personally, which had almost made Jack fall but he caught himself and tried to lick his face.

After trying to get the dog to settle down he heard a voice yell, “Daddy!” and was attacked by his daughter and his dog at the same time, with a laugh and trying to get them both off for a second he took a piece of candy cane out of his daughter’s hair.

“Eventful day princess?” Jack questioned, and his daughter nodded and ran back into the extra room, where Jack decided to follow. 

“Hey, you’re home,” His boyfriend stood there, covered in bow and tinsel...  _ What _ .

“You uh... got all decorated for me,” Jack raised an eyebrow as his boyfriend laughed.

“You can thank Angel for that,” As Jack approached his boyfriend he let out a chuckle of his own.

“Well, thank you then, Angel, Rhys is now more decorated than our tree,” he laughed out and Rhys rolled his eyes and pointed behind him to the extravagant tree.  _ Christmas was no joke to Jack. _

“I have no idea  _ how _ I could be more decorated than that thing, I mean it literally glows! Without the lights!”

“Anything for my princess’ favorite holiday, if Angel says she wants the biggest sparkling tree, I’m going to get it,”

“Yeah, Angel mentioned that to me,” Rhys looked over to the small girl playing and laughing with the dog when he felt a small kiss placed on his cheek.

“Don’t think I wouldn’t do the same fo you,” Jack whispered and took off some tinsel wrapped around Rhys, “Also, you do know you’re going to have to do this Christmas morning too right?”

“W-What? Why?” 

“Because you’re my gift Rhysie, all wrapped up, and just for me,”

“Jesus Ja-Jack,” Rhys laughed out when the sentimental moment was interrupted by Jack blowing a raspberry into his neck, “F-Fine, but only because you’re actually being sweet this once,”

“I’m always sweet, what are you talking about?” Jack retorted, grabbing another bow off of Rhys, “You just don't notice it,”

“Sure, that’s what it is,” Rhys laughed, helping Jack get the bows off, “Whatever it is making you have this good mood, I’ll tell you this, this is the best Christmas I’ve had,”

“So far,” Jack replied and kissed Rhys, only earning an ‘eww’ and a bark from the two onlookers, “Oh yeah? What if I kiss you, you little stinker,” Jack said to his daughter which made her laugh and get up to run as he chased after her and finally caught up, pelting kisses on her head while she giggled and tried to get loose. 

Rhys looked on smiling, even if Jack thought he could make a Christmas better, nothing would be better than his first with Jack and Angel. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short & sweet, thank you for reading


End file.
